All You Have to do is Save the World, Ichigo
by Lai Jun Chen
Summary: Ichigo wonders why he is always the one to save the day. Why him and not the ancient, supposedly ridiculously powerful So-Taicho? Why does the fate of worlds always rest on the shoulders of a teenage boy?


Someone very kindly pointed out to me that Ichigo is not supposed to remember the incident with Senna. I have no desire to re-edit it, so please ignore my idiotic mistake. Thank you. PLease enjoy the fic and review!

I own nothing.

**All You Have to do is Save the World, Ichigo.**

The first reason Kurosaki Ichigo began to question various things was because of the guilt he inexplicably felt when he had unwittingly assisted in freeing Muramasa's wielder, Kouga. Though it wasn't until _after_ everything was finally finished that he truly questioned those feelings of guilt and subsequent responsibility.

Why should he feel guilty for freeing Kouga? Why should he feel guilty for freeing the So-Taicho so that Muramasa could free Kouga? He hadn't known Muramasa's true goals. No one had. Muramasa and Kouga were to blame for all the destruction, the danger to Karakura and everyone else. The higher-ups in Seireitei, in all their _supposed_wisdom, had deemed it necessary to erase all record of Kouga and his zanpaktou. How was anyone to learn from past mistakes if Seireitei _erased_ all their mistakes from the history books. They couldn't, and so the _wise_codgers of Seireitei were as much at fault as Kouga and Muramasa. Because of these people Ichigo, his friends, and all the rest of Karakura were helping to pay the price for those past mistakes.

The next question that came to mind was: Why was it _always_Karakura? Ichigo understood that it was the highest spiritually charged place in the world, but wouldn't that make one want to put the bad guys far _away_from Karakura? After all, look what happened with the Bounto.

Why did the Memory Rosary appear in Karakura? Why did Kusaka hide himself in Karakura? Was it also because of the dense reiatsu in the area? And if he was so dangerous, why seal Baishin in Karakura and not Seireitei- or maybe Siberia? More on a side not, Ichigo wondered why Baishin hadn't been as well sealed as Kouga had been. Ichigo wondered not only why Kouga had been sealed in Karakura, but also why he'd been cut from history. And why, for the love of everything _holy_, had Kouga been left in Karakura after the Baishin incident?

And after all this wondering, questioning, and reflecting Kurosaki ichigo had to wonder: Why was it _always_ he, a _sixteen_ year old _boy_, always saving the world? Sometimes two worlds. Why him?

He wanted to know why everyone seemed to think he should fix everything, why they thought he _could_. First was Rukia, then Memory Rosary Senna, there was Baishin, then Kariya and the Bounto, next was Kusaka and Hitsugaya, fifth was Lurichiyo and Amagai Shusuke, Rukia again along with everyone's memories, and last was Muramasa and Kouga. And he was still expected to help defeat Aizen, and he would. They'd fucked up the future by ignoring problems, by 'erasing' mistakes. Every time something bad happened it was chalked up to necessity, then forgotten and deleted from the history books. Future generations would repeat past mistakes, if for no other reason than that they had no way of knowing that the same thing had failed in the past. Despite their long, nearly immortal lives, Seireitei was filled with _fools_.

All the aforementioned incidences happened because of one thing or another that Seireitei had or had not done when it _should_ have. Why was he _doing _this to himself? Nine counts of Kurosaki Ichigo expected 'save the day,' often a world or two. And he had, and would; no questions asked, no thanks necessary.

Ichigo couldn't- _wouldn't_ say 'this isn't fair,' because life isn't fair, and he accepted that. But this was getting ridiculous.

Wasn't the So-Taicho supposed to be the strongest of them all? Despite this, Ichigo could count on one hand the number of times the relic had so much as _drawn _his sword; to fight his students, to stop Kusaka's new dimension from expanding, against Amagai, to fight the gigantic monster/hollow thing, and to challenge his own zanpaktou. That was _it_.

Kurosaki Ichigo would _always _fight for his loved ones and what he knew to be right, but he was beginning to seriously wonder why he was usually doing Seireitei's dirty work in the process. Why was he always made to feel responsible or at fault, as if he was _part_of Seireitei, as if he were the blasted So-Taicho? Especially when he wasn't even recognized as a _basic _shinigami. Why was he expected to bare so much of their burden?

The fate of Soul Society, of any world, was not suddenly his responsibility simply because he had the ability. If that were true then Seireitei would have improved the Rukongai, made it safe and prosperous. The Kuchiki and Kasumii-ooji were nobility, powerful, and wealthy, but had no care for the starving people of Rukongai.

Besides all this, Seireitei seemed to lack faith in his abilities, sporadically. No help had officially been sent when he went to save Senna, and he'd been forbidden from retrieving Inoue. But the rest of the time Seireitei seemed to have no problem letting Ichigo do everything himself; Kariya, Amagai, Kouga... He was even being counted on as one of their last pieces of hope in regards to Aizen. Again he asked; Why him, a teenage _boy_?

The question would never be asked aloud, and therefore, never answered. In the end he could answer it himself: he couldn't trust anyone else to do any of these tasks. This answer was made obvious every time they made him their saving grace, every time they doubted him one day, but relied on him the next. The very inconsistency of their nature made it impossible for him to shrug off his burdens: He couldn't trust them and the world wasn't fair. And he accepted that.

....All you have to do is save a world or two, Ichigo.


End file.
